W3Teacher Online Web Tutorials

HTML Headings

2016-04-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

Headings are important in HTML Pages.

HTML Headings

Headings are defined with the <h1> to <h6> tags.

<h1> defines the most important heading. <h6> defines the least important heading.

Example :

<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<h2>This is a heading</h2>
<h3>This is a heading</h3>

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Headings Are Important

Use HTML headings for headings only. Don't use headings to make text BIG or bold.

Search engines use your headings to index the structure and content of your web pages.

Users skim your pages by its headings. It is important to use headings to show the document structure.

h1 headings should be main headings, followed by h2 headings, then the less important h3, and so on.

HTML Horizontal Rules

The <hr> tag creates a horizontal line in an HTML page.

The hr element can be used to separate content:

Example :

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<hr>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<hr>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

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The HTML <head> Element

The HTML <head> element has nothing to do with HTML headings.

The HTML <head> element contains meta data. Meta data are not displayed.

The HTML <head> element is placed between the <html> tag and the <body> tag:

Example :

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
<title>My First HTML</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
</head>

<body>
-
-
-
-

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The HTML <title> Element

The HTML <title> element is meta data. It defines the HTML document's title.

The title will not be displayed in the document, but might be displayed in the browser tab.

The HTML Element

The HTML <meta> element is also meta data.

It can be used to define the character set, and other information about the HTML document.

More Meta Elements

In the chapter about HTML styles you discover more meta elements:

The HTML <style> element is used to define internal CSS style sheets.

The HTML <link> element is used to define external CSS style sheets.

HTML Tip - How to View HTML Source

Have you ever seen a Web page and wondered "Hey! How did they do that?"

To find out, right-click in the page and select "View Page Source" (in Chrome) or "View Source" (in IE), or similar in another browser.

This will open a window containing the HTML code of the page.

HTML Attributes

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Attributes provide additional information about HTML elements.

HTML Attributes

HTML elements can have attributes
Attributes provide additional information about an element
Attributes are always specified in the start tag
Attributes come in name/value pairs like: name="value"

The lang Attribute

The document language can be declared in the <html> tag.

The language is declared in the lang attribute.

Declaring a language is important for accessibility applications (screen readers) and search engines:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en-US">
<body>

<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

The first two letters specify the language (en). If there is a dialect, use two more letters (US).

The title Attribute

HTML paragraphs are defined with the <p> tag.

In this example, the <p> element has a title attribute. The value of the attribute is "About W3Teacher":

Example :

<p title="About W3Teacher">
W3Teacher is a web developer's site.
It provides tutorials and references covering
many aspects of web programming,
including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML, SQL, PHP, ASP, etc.
</p>

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When you move the mouse over the element, the title will be displayed as a tooltip.

The href Attribute

HTML links are defined with the <a> tag. The link address is specified in the href attribute:

Example :

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You will learn more about links and the <a> tag later in this tutorial.

Size Attributes

HTML images are defined with the <img> tag.

The filename of the source (src), and the size of the image (width and height) are all provided as attributes:

Example :

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The image size is specified in pixels: width="200" means 200 screen pixels wide.

You will learn more about images and the <img> tag later in this tutorial.

The alt Attribute

The alt attribute specifies an alternative text to be used, when an HTML element cannot be displayed.

The value of the attribute can be read by "screen readers". This way, someone "listening" to the webpage, i.e. a blind person, can "hear" the element.

Example :

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We Suggest: Always Use Lowercase Attributes

The HTML5 standard does not require lower case attribute names.

The title attribute can be written with upper or lower case like Title and/or TITLE.

W3C recommends lowercase in HTML4, and demands lowercase for stricter document types like XHTML.

Lower case is the most common. Lower case is easier to type. At W3Teacher we always use lower case attribute names.

We Suggest: Always Quote Attribute Values

The HTML5 standard does not require quotes around attribute values. The href attribute, demonstrated above, can be written as:

Example :

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W3C recommends quotes in HTML4, and demands quotes for stricter document types like XHTML. Sometimes it is necessary to use quotes. This will not display correctly, because it contains a space:

Example :

<p title=About W3Teacher>
You cannot omit quotes around an attribute value
if the value contains spaces.
</p>

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Using quotes are the most common. Omitting quotes can produce errors. At W3Teacher we always use quotes around attribute values.

Single or Double Quotes?

Double style quotes are the most common in HTML, but single style can also be used.

In some situations, when the attribute value itself contains double quotes, it is necessary to use single quotes:

Or vice versa:

Lesson Summary

All HTML elements can have attributes
The HTML title attribute provides additional "tool-tip" information
The HTML href attribute provides address information for links
The HTML width and height attributes provide size information for images
The HTML alt attribute provides text for screen readers
At W3Teacher we always use lowercase HTML attribute names
At W3Teacher we always quote attributes with double quotes

Test Yourself with Exercises!

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

HTML Attributes

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HTML Elements

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HTML documents are made up by HTML elements.

HTML elements are written with a start tag, with an end tag, with the content in between:

<tagname>content</tagname>

The HTML element is everything from the start tag to the end tag:

Example: <p>My first HTML paragraph.</p>

Some HTML elements do not have an end tag.

Nested HTML Elements

HTML elements can be nested (elements can contain elements).

All HTML documents consist of nested HTML elements.

This example contains 4 HTML elements:

Example :

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

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HTML Example Explained

The <html> element defines the whole document.

It has a start tag <html> and an end tag </html>.

The element content is another HTML element (the <body> element).

<html>
<body>

<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

The <body> element defines the document body.

It has a start tag <body> and an end tag </body>.

The element content is two other HTML elements (<h1> and <p>).

<body>

<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>

</body>

The <h1> element defines a heading.

It has a start tag <h1> and an end tag </h1>.

The element content is: My First Heading.

<h1>My First Heading</h1>

The <p> element defines a paragraph.

It has a start tag <p> and an end tag </p>.

The element content is: My first paragraph.

<p>My first paragraph.</p>

Don't Forget the End Tag

Some HTML elements will display correctly, even if you forget the end tag:

Example :

<html>
<body>

<p>This is a paragraph
<p>This is a paragraph

</body>
</html>

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The example above works in all browsers, because the closing tag is considered optional.

Never rely on this. It might produce unexpected results and/or errors if you forget the end tag.

Empty HTML Elements

HTML elements with no content are called empty elements.

<br> is an empty element without a closing tag (the <br> tag defines a line break).

Empty elements can be "closed" in the opening tag like this: <br />.

HTML5 does not require empty elements to be closed. But if you want stricter validation, or you need to make your document readable by XML parsers, you should close all HTML elements.

HTML Tip: Use Lowercase Tags

HTML tags are not case sensitive: <P> means the same as <p>.

The HTML5 standard does not require lowercase tags, but W3C recommends lowercase in HTML4, and demands lowercase for stricter document types like XHTML.

W3Teacher.in always uses lowercase tags.

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HTML Basic Examples

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You will learn about these examples in the next chapters.

HTML Documents

All HTML documents must start with a type declaration: <!DOCTYPE html>.

The HTML document itself begins with <html> and ends with </html>.

The visible part of the HTML document is between <body> and </body>.

Example :

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<h1>My First Heading</h1>

<p>My first paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

Try it Yourself >>

HTML Headings

HTML headings are defined with the <h1> to <h6> tags:

Example :

<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<h2>This is a heading</h2>
<h3>This is a heading</h3>

Try it Yourself >>

HTML Paragraphs

HTML paragraphs are defined with the tag:

Example :

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<p>This is another paragraph.</p>

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HTML Links

HTML links are defined with the <a> tag:

Example :

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The link's destination is specified in the href attribute.
Attributes are used to provide additional information about HTML elements.

HTML Images

HTML images are defined with the <img> tag.

The source file (src), alternative text (alt), and size (width and height) are provided as attributes:

Example :

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HTML Editors

2016-04-25T17:44:00.004-07:00

Write HTML Using Notepad

HTML can be edited by using professional HTML editors like:

Microsoft WebMatrix
Sublime Text

However, for learning HTML we recommend a text editor like Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac).

We believe using a simple text editor is a good way to learn HTML.

Follow the steps below to create your first web page with Notepad.

Step 1: Open Notepad

Open Notepad in Windows 8 or later:

Open the Start Screen (the window symbol at the bottom left on your screen). Type Notepad.

Open Notepad in Windows 7 or earlier:

Click Start (bottom left on your screen). Click All Programs. Click Accessories. Click Notepad.

Step 2: Write Some HTML Code

Write or copy some HTML into Notepad.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<h1>My First Sample Heading</h1>

<p>My first Sample paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

Step 3: Save the HTML Page

Save the file on your computer.

Select File > Save as in the Notepad menu.

Name the file "index.html" or any other name ending with html or htm.

UTF-8 is the preferred encoding for HTML files.

ANSI encoding covers US and Western European characters only.

You can use either .htm or .html as file extension. There is no difference, it is up to you.

Step 4: View HTML Page in Your Browser

Open the saved HTML file in your favorite browser. The result will look much like this:

To open a file in a browser, double click on the file, or right-click, and choose open with.

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HTML Introduction

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What is HTML?

HTML is a markup language for describing web documents (web pages).

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language
A markup language is a set of markup tags
HTML documents are described by HTML tags
Each HTML tag describes different document content

HTML Example

A small HTML document:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>

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Example Explained

The DOCTYPE declaration defines the document type to be HTML
The text between <html> and </html> describes an HTML document
The text between <head> and </head> provides information about the document
The text between <title> and </title> provides a title for the document
The text between <body> and </body> describes the visible page content
The text between <h1> and </h1> describes a heading
The text between <p> and </p> describes a paragraph

Using this description, a web browser can display a document with a heading and a paragraph.

HTML Tags

HTML tags are keywords (tag names) surrounded by angle brackets:

<tagname>content</tagname>

HTML tags normally come in pairs like <p> and </p>
The first tag in a pair is the start tag, the second tag is the end tag
The end tag is written like the start tag, but with a slash before the tag name

The start tag is often called the opening tag. The end tag is often called the closing tag.

Basic HTML Page Structure

Below is a visualization of a Basic HTML page structure:

The <!DOCTYPE> Declaration

The <!DOCTYPE> Declaration helps the browser to display a web page correctly.

There are different document types on the web.

To display a document correctly, the browser must know both type and version.

The doctype declaration is not case sensitive. All cases are acceptable:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<!doctype html>
<!Doctype Html>

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html 5 Tutorial Example

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Click Here >>

HTML 5 Tutorial

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HTML lets you to create a website.
This tutorial teaches you everything about HTML in an easy way.
So, you will enjoy.

Examples in Every Chapter

This HTML tutorial contains hundreds of HTML examples.

With our online HTML editor, you can edit the HTML, and click on a button to view the result.

Example :

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>

<h1>This is a Heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

</body>

</html>

Try it Yourself >>

Click on the "Try it Yourself" button to see how it works.

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